What contributes most to distortion?

[BobM]

I know, I can't get all the possible combinations, but pick the one that is closest to what you believe.

[richidoo]

Room!

[Triode Pete]

Speakers... at least 5% on conventional ones!!!

That's why I like horns; they don't distort!

[Nick B]

I just made an uneducated guess because I've never done any room treatments and have been into audio since the late '80s
source>room>...........

[_Scotty_]

It seems to me that we are back to what ever is the weakest link in the system and in this case including the room.
One could generalize about what is worst or first but I think what contributes most will be situationally dependent.
Scotty

[mfsoa]

I guess at some point (purely enechoic) my argument falls away but if we define distortion as being information which was not on the the original recording, then clearly the room  is the #1 source of it. 

Abating/managing that distortion will yield the biggest return on investment we can make to to our systems as we all know.  Sheesh how many killer systems have we seen with a big coffee table in front of the listener. I know everyone has different ratios of WAF to room treatment to deal with but to deliberately take so much of the systems performance away by adding a large slab of glass directly in front of you..

Or fishtanks...  How many megabuck systems have we seen with a big tank in the same room, a glass coffee table in front of the listener and no first reflection treatment?  Of course everyone has their own priorities and if they and their fish are happy then that's what counts!

-Mike

-Mike

[richidoo]

I guess at some point (purely enechoic) my argument falls away but...

Actually I think anechoic example makes your point even stronger, Mike.

I have experimented with anechoic chambers a few times, and found them to be excellent for music listening. Every sonic aspect is drastically improved when the echo is eliminated. The brain adjusts to the uncomfortable silence after a few minutes, but playing music relieves the discomfort immediately and the reverb on the recording makes you feel like you are really there. Tonal detail and bass clarity are vastly improved when comb filtering and modes are gone. Dynamics are vastly improved, because there is no background noise and you can turn the volume way down, leaving much more headroom before SPL or amp distortion pains. In a small anechoic space there is some cabin gain too, which makes small sealed 2ways equivalent to floorstanding 3 ways in a real room.

But it does get a little hot in there...

I liked it so much I'm building a 6' dodecahedron shaped chamber for music listening, meditation, brainwave training, etc.

[S Clark]

Room, speakers, source, amplifier would be my vote.

[sleepyguy24]

I'm not as educated as a lot of members here but here is my vote.

amplifier, source, speakers, room

The reason I'm choosing amplifier first because one of the tube sellers that I buy from has specific types of power tubes that either will distort early, average or late. Also when I was younger and really budget receivers when I would turn up the music to loud levels I'd hear all sorts of distortion.

For source the one thing I think that added a lot of noise and I think distortion was a very budget tube preamp. It had point to point wiring but the build quality was kind of eh. No matter the system I put the preamp in there was some kind of noise and I think distortion.

[rollo]

   The room is number one. Speakers number two and source number three.
    Distortion for the most part is measureable however the level we experience is basically moot.
     IMO a non linear sound is worse. An exaggerated bottom or top or recessed mids will offer less of real sound. The room is key to avoid such non linear sound.
     The bass region needs space to develop. Speakers close to one boundary and open at the other creates an imbalance in the room. Speakers to close to front and side walls create reflections and nodes.
        In general lots of speakers are just to big for the room as I have learned. Pipedreams anyone ?


charles